Commitment
by ssfr
Summary: Ranma and Akane, several years later.
1. Why

This is my first (two, concatenated together, to be exact) actually posted story ^_^  
Tell me what you think (verbose is prefered in this ^_-)

Commitment part One:  
Why

A fanfic by Suika Roberts, based on the Takahashi Rumiko Manga _Ranma 1/2_.  
Of course, this is unauthorized and not-for-profit. Anyone who sells this for more than the cost of media should be flogged.

``Ranma, why don't we call you Mother and Father like all of the other kids?'' Miyuki asked as she shed her shoes in the genkan.

``Would you like the long version or the short one?''

``The short one, please.''

``When your elder sister was really small we decided it would look funny.''

``Tell me the long version.''

``OK. You know about the training trip we were on when Rei was born, right?''

``Un, I've heard the story about how when Akane annouced that she was in labor Ryouga fainted into a stream and Auntie Akari had to pull him out before he drowned.''

``And then Akane started giggling at the thought of what would have happened if she hadn't already known about his curse.''

``Ouch.''

``Lucky him that she knew. As you know Rei's birth was very easy, by the time we got back to Tokyo and the dojo she was a couple weeks old and looked like a human baby instead of a pink monkey...''

``Hey! That's rude!''

``It's true. When you were first born you looked like a pink monkey too. A very cute pink monkey, quite worth the effort of carrying for nine and a half months, but still a pink monkey.

``Your grandmother just sort of fainted as we walked in, Akane was holding Rei and promising to feed her as soon as she found a spot to sit down. When she came to Akane had Rei to her breast, Rei was quite happily ignoring everything else, and Akane and the rest of us were wondering what was wrong. She all but dragged the two of them to the hospital to get checked. They were fine, but the doctors took some of Akane's blood, she wouldn't let them have any of Rei's, and said to call back in a week.

``We called back and they asked us what my blood type was, and when I said that it was A they said that we needed to come in. When whe got there they said that Akane had antibodies for type A blood in her system, and the doctors were concerned, or, more accurately, certain, that we would not be able to have more children together.''

``Why? Antibodies just protect against germs that have been encountered before . . . Oh! Both Rei's and my blood type are the same as yours.''

``Pin pon. So we plotted as we came home, thinking about what we could do about it, whether we wanted any more children, that sort of thing. Akane came up with the idea we eventually used. `You always brag about how you look so much better as a girl than I do, you carry the next one.' I think she meant it as a joke, but after we thought about it we decided to ask for second and third oppinions. Kodachi and Ukyou thought it was a decent idea, so long as we could set things up so that I wouldn't end up the topic of someone's research. Tofu pointed out that we would need to keep me from changing, and trying to avoid hot water just would not do.''

``Understatement. Whenever you try to stay one gender or another you always end up soaking wet. Remember that parent-teacher conference last year?''

``How could I forget it? `Could you please have your father come to the meeting?' `Sure.' `Who's this?' `My father.' poke poke.'' Ranma scowls at the memory.

``Hey! it was funny.'' Miyuki giggles.

``You obviously think it still is.''

``Of course it is. That is why we don't call you tou-chan, ne? I admit it would have been rather hillarious to have Rei calling you tou-chan while I was nursing.''

``It's not quite as funny as how you called me `Tittie' no matter what form I was in until you were four.'' Ranma pokes back.

``I did what?!''

``What, you didn't know? I copied the habit off of Akane, I don't know where she picked it up, who knows, maybe she just thought it up on her own, of asking you if you wanted some tittie whenever you looked hungry or I felt you needed to be fed.''

``Felt I needed to be fed?''

``Un, When you're breastfeeding you produce enough milk to feed whoever you're feeding. If you wait too long the milk accumulates and is rather obnoxious.''

``From your tone you are understating again, birth-mother.''

``I'm not sure that's the right word.''

``Understatement? Or birth-mother.''

``The second. It doesn't sound right.''

``Oh well. Find me the proper one and I'll call you by it.'' (I admit the last bit of dialog loses something in translation. :/ )

``Don't bother. Enough chatter, you are not going to get out of today's practice session. Your elder sister is off learning from obaba, so you get do do a bit of one on one practice today.''

``Hai, hai. Iku ze!'' Miyuki shifts tone from absolute boredom to enthusiastic yell in an instant, slamming her right heel into the side of Ranma's face, flinging him into the pond. *Worked. That aerial spin kick shouldn't have, though.* >Thump! In the end the score was about even, old age, skill and treachery only slightly overpowering youth, skill, and treachery.

``If we want to wash off before Akane gets here we should go in now.'' Ranma states, heading into the house, only dripping slightly from her last dip in the pond.

``You're washing my back.'' she continued, stripping off her shirt and dropping it on the floor.

``Don't I end up doing that most of the time anyway, kaa-chan?'' Miyuki asks, adding her own clothing to the untidy pile that Ranma would have to wash later.

``Kyaaa! Tsumette!''

``If you didn't insist on using ice water you wouldn't scream so loud.''

``Then what fun is there in it? And I've still washed your back far more times than you've washed mine.''

``I must admit that I'm not sure. And that is only becouse you have twenty years on me.'' Miyuki replies as she soaps Ranma's back. She finishes in silence and Ranma scrubs her back before entering the tub.

``I still have to cook dinner. Fugh. You did a number on my face with that kick earlier. I'm going to have a nice purple bruise to explain to my students tomorrow.''

``Just one? I can see a good five from here.''

``Hey! Don't look!'' Ranma pulls himself into a tighter ball, eyes closed to better enjoy the hot bath.

``I meant ones that would show up when you have clothes on! Che, you are so etchi.''

``I am not, I just think about the kind of person I was at 11 and act accordingly.''

``See! Etchi!''

``What, are you saying you aren't?''

``Why would I say that. You've seen some of the things I read.''

``Tadaima!'' Akane's voice rings from the genkan.

``Okaerinasai!'' The two in the bathtub call.

``I suppose you are going to make me cook dinner tonight, even though it isn't my turn, right?''

``No, I'll be getting out in a moment to cook it. If you want one of us could wash your back for you.''

``OK! I'll be up in a moment.'' The sounds of groceries getting put away waft up from the kitchen.

``Yet another question, why do you two always argue about who is going to cook?''

``Akane couldn't cook until she was almost twenty five. It was the contest that finally convinced her to learn. She'd been trying before, but she never made the leap that separates awful from decent.''

``Contest?''

``Yeah, Kodachi challenged her to a contest to see which of them could poison the most people. Non-fatally. Kodachi got something like the entire male population of Fuurinkan High and a few of the female students as well. Akane poured twelve grams of LSD into the Nerima water supply.''

``Twelve grams!?!?''

``Yep. The really scary part was that it took the athorities in other parts over a week to realize that there was anything wrong. Most of Nerima still doesn't trust the water supply. Kodachi was at Ukyou's when they both started tripping. Ukyou had enough presence of mind to tell everyone to go home and lock the doors, but assumed that when Kodachi didn't leave she was just one of the hallucinations. Kodachi has said that she originally was going to sit out the trip somewhere quiet and go home, for she thought that someone at her house had spiked something she ate or drank. By the time she realized that Ukyou was losing it she tripping pretty heavily, and so appointed herself to keep Ukyou from damaging herself during her bad trip. By the time the LSD was flushed from the water supply and the after affects had begun to wear off. . .'' Ranma's story was interupted by Akane's entrance, a quick janken to determine who got to wash her back (which made Akane break out laughing) and the loser, Miyuki, washing Akane's back before they both got into the tub. ``Ukyou and Kodachi were a set. LSD makes you really open to suggestion for a few days after you do it, and they spent almost two weeks recovering together. They went from being just shy of mortal enemies to friends and lovers by the time the LSD in the water supply had been dealt with, about a month and a half later.''

``How?''

``If you spend a lot of time talking with someone, each of you letting out secrets that you wouldn't tell others that you don't trust implicitly, holding each other when things get really bad, dropping the facades that you keep up when others are around, you first begin to trust, then it can go further, especially if there is no one around who wants to stop it. Kodachi wasn't totally sane before that happened. She had no one she could trust, no one she could count on to take care of her or help her take care of herself, no one that she didn't feel the need to pretend around. Ukyou was trying to deal with the fact that Akane and I had finally stopped fighting and were together. They both needed someone really badly, and they volunteered each other. I admit it was a shock when I first saw them walk in together, Ukyou's arm about Kodachi's waist, and her head on Ukyou's shoulder. Neither of them had parents, so they felt pretty safe about being open with the fact that they were more than just `romantic freinds.' Even so there were a couple attempts made by official types to split them up.''

``What? Why would they do that?''

``It was almost fifteen years ago. Before they got over most of that gender discrimination crap, dear.'' Akane answered, ``They did that to anyone who was involved in an openly physical lesbian relationship. They make the parents move one of the girls and the parents forbid contact between them. Mean, huh?''

``Yep. Very. I'll go cook dinner since I lost today, and you look tired Akane.''

``Just so long as it isn't avacado and mozerella on microwaved french bread anything is OK.'' Akane tells her daughter as she dries off, before dunking her own face in the bathwater.

``Aw. That is my favorite kind of sandwich. I'll make something interesting, then.'' Miyuki replies in an agreived, then threatening tone.

``At least your `interesting' isn't as bad as what Akane used to cook. Ite! Hey! Your cooking is a lot better than it used to be! Really! I even look forward to eating it!'' Miyuki heard the sounds of Ranma being dunked into the tub by main force, shook her head, and went to the kitchen to find things to add to the the avacado.

--*-- ``So, what is for dinner, Miyuki?'' Miyuki looks up at her older sister, who showed signs that she would soon learn the bakusaitenketsu, mainly through not being as bruised as she had been the day before.

``California roll, sliced avocado, and miso ramen.'' She answers the question.

``Every time you cook we have avocado, why?''

``Because I like it, no one else in the house cooks with it, and it's in season right now.'' There is a loud knocking at the door. ``That must be Kodachi, Ukyou and Rie-chan. Go let them in, please.''

``Ryoukai!'' She snapped her heels together and slapped her fist against her chest.

``You've been watching too much anime recently, haven't you?''

``No, but I think that one we watched a week or two ago was cool.'' Rei did not smile as she made the comment, for that would spoil the effect.

``Why do I even bother showing them to you if you don't care enough to remember them?'' Miyuki's annoyance with her sister is plain.

``Because I like them, even the strange ones like Iczer 1.'' Rei says, walking to the door. There is a thunk as the designated throwing-pot hits the door frame behind her.

``Konbanwa, Rei-chan.''

``Konbanwa. Come in, please, Miyuki is almost done with dinner.'' She leads the way to the dining room.

``Ucchan! To what do we owe your presence tonight?''

``Miyuki called and said that I was invited over for dinner. I guess she neglected to tell you that, ne.''

``Yep. Least she was cooking, so I don't have to apologize for not having cooked enough.''

``Once was enough, wasn't it Ran-chan?''

``More than. `I don't mind if you invite people over and forget to tell me''

``But don't just expect me to cook for the lot of them' '' Akane and Ranma finish in unison. Ukyou and Kodachi giggle at their aggrieved tone, and Miyuki walks in with the first load of food.

``Rei, Rie-chan, could you help please?'' Miyuki says her manner making it plain that she could handle it fine herself, but remembered how Rie-chan enjoyed to help out.

``Hai!'' Rie practically flies across the room and through the door to the kitchen, being careful not to hit anyone or anything as she went over the table.

``Your daughter is getting good.'' Akane complements Ukyou, thinking about the leap Rie had just made, over the table and Ranma's head.

``Place that there, Rie-chan.''

``Itadakimasu!''

As usual Kodachi and Ukyou are extremely sappy, feeding each other and generally acting like the doting couple that they are. Rie ignores them.

A short while later every one makes a point of complementing the cook for the food. Miyuki and Ranma are staring at each other over the last slice of avocado when the younger one finds the way to get it. ``You didn't finish the story, you know, kaa-chama.'' Ranma shifts his gaze off of the avocado slice, and she snags it.

``Which story?''

``The one about how you ended up bearing me.''

``Oh, yeah,'' He looks for the avocado slice, then continues, ``Well after Tofu-sensei pointed out that we would need to keep me female for the nine months or so that the pregnancy would take there was a quick brainstorming session where we went over known methods to keep me female. The only one that I judged trustworthy enough to attempt was the chiisui-ton, which was a bit of a problem, as it had gotten lost during the fight with Herb. So had the kaisui-huu, but that was only necessary to reverse the first after you were born.

``We made the arrangements like we were a normal couple who were going to go in for in-vitro fertilization, and I presented myself in female form as the surrogate mother. The doctors thought I was a fine candidate, and preparations went on as we made plans for an expedition to find the two magic items.

``We both made the appropriate donations, and I was really glad that I wasn't donating the ovum. That was a really uncomfortable process. Luckily better ways have been invented since, but to say it wasn't a fun process would be like saying swimming to China was a nice weekend's trip.

``Rei was about two by the time we got the trip underway.''

``The whole gang, just about, was involved in the search, and we found the kaisui-huu pretty quickly. Ko-chan found the chiisui-ton in a large tree a kilometer or so from where everyone else was looking.''

``You helped a great deal, Ucchan. I couldn't have found it if you hadn't suggested that we get out of camp if we were going to be making out. And you were the one who said that that tree looked nice.'' Kodachi's voice is quite calm, very different from what it had been before she got involved with Ukyou.

``Anyway, the search took nearly two months to complete, and we got home just in time for the Sakura to bloom. I had been female for a couple of weeks, and the lot of us did hanami. I got totally drunk for the first and last time in my life, and Akane had to shut me up.''

``I remember that. I thought she just enjoyed sucking face with you.'' Ukyou giggles as her comment turns both Akane and Ranma a bright red.

``We set up the appointment to go to the doctor and get an embryo implanted, and it, in due time, turned into you.''

``So that's why you have the bucket and the tea kettle in the safe.'' Miyuki's voice shows the sudden comprehension.

``Un. I don't want to get stuck by accident, but it is occasionally nice to take a hot bath as a female.''

``You picked up a lot of habits after being female for four and a half years.'' Ukyou needles lightly.

``Four and a half years?'' Miyuki directs the question at Ranma.

``Un. Two and a half months before the embryo was implanted, nine and a half months where it was growing into the baby that would become you, three years nursing, and six months trying to figure out where I lost the kaisui-huu.''

``Oh, and you were to embarrassed to ask? I thought you had just forgotten.'' Akane's voice shows that she really doesn't know the answer.

``No, I just didn't think it was all that important. You didn't mind, my students didn't mind, nobody who I couldn't just tell `I'm married' and have them back off was flirting, chasing, harassing me, so I figured I'd just change back when I found the thing.''

``Ah. The possibility of my having hid it never occurred to you?'' Akane's question makes Ranma rock back a little, as if from a blow.

``You did?''

``The possibility never occurred to me either.'' She sticks her tounge out at him. Everybody giggles at it.

``Oops! I need to clear the table. Rie-chan, want to help?'' The five year old nods eagerly, and they quickly have the table clear.

``Ano, Kodachi-bachan, why did you challenge Akane to a poisoning contest?'' Miyuki asks, after everyone had settled down again.

``I don't know if you know this, but I wasn't very stable then. My family was more than a little odd, and I had no one to trust except me and Midorigame from the time I was very small. I got into poisons when I was younger than you are, about seven, and started experimenting with hallucinogens and other `recreational' drugs when I was about 11. I don't remember why, but it might have just been that I was curious and didn't have anyone to tell me how dumb of an idea it was. They were easy enough to get, and nobody noticed the difference, so I thought it was OK. I got tired of the needle marks and stopped when I was fourteen, I wrote a diary of that experience. Heroin isn't a fun habit to kick cold turkey, but, as all the actual documentation on it said, totally survivable and the only way to do it. I am still amazed that nobody except Sasuke knew about it. My father just said that I was skipping school and they should just deal with it. My brother didn't appear to care that I felt like Zandru's ninth hell warmed over, and said that I should just go to school anyway. I am really glad I didn't dabble in harder drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, speed, coke. I had done some LSD, some pot, some other things, but not much. I got into a rather nihilistic mood, and didn't begin to get out of it until I started obsessing over your parent. I have a bad feeling that if anyone had dared to inquire I would have ended up in a mental hospital for the rest of my life.

``Anyway, I was really upset that Ranma had actually said that he wanted to be with Akane for the rest of his life, and so I challenged Akane to a contest I was sure she couldn't win. When I won I was to get to keep Ranma for six months, an amount of time I felt more than adequate to the task of making him mine. Using my superior knowledge of poisons I got maybe 540 people. I still don't know where she got all of that LSD, but she got all of Nerima with it. I was at Ucchan's to try and convince Ukyou to honor the deal after I won when the LSD started to kick in. I assumed that someone had gotten into my poisons and added a hit or two to my food. I hadn't done anything other than order and drink a cup of tea when Ukyou ordered every one out, locked the door, and started to lose it. I'd had bad trips and knew what one was like. I also knew that it was a really bad thing to go through alone, and not much better with just an alligator for company. So I dragged her outside, locked the door behind me, and took her to a park and held her until she started to calm down, at which time I realized that it wasn't just me who was tripping, but everyone around me. I took Ukyou to my house, made sure the filter on Midorigame's tank was working, snagged a couple thousand yen, and led Ukyou back to her shop, pausing to buy some bottled water along the way.

``I still don't know why I did that. It was totally out of character for who I was. Maybe I was thinking back to when I had wished for someone to hold me during a bad trip, maybe I just thought it would be fun, maybe I just wanted someone to hold me and I didn't care who, I don't know. I just know I am really glad I did it. I sat and talked to her, telling her that it was OK, that it was just a hallucination, that she could tell that it was just a hallucination. I ended up holding her until we both fell asleep. After we woke up I just sort of dumped on her, telling her a lot of the things that had been bothering me. She ended up holding me, telling me it was all right as I cried on her shoulder. I hadn't cried in years. We spent the next few days talking to each other, telling secrets, becoming more and more attracted to each other. I don't know how that happened, I still don't find many females attractive, and Ukyou is only a little broader in her definition of an attractive female. By the time we ran out of bottled water I had worked up the courage to risk kissing her. I am still glad I did. Very glad.'' Ukyou blushes at the fervent manner this is said in. ``I didn't even think about my family until after school started again. That afternoon I asked Ukyou to come with me to check on Midorigame, who was fine. My father and brother were not. Apparently they had kept drinking the water as it came from the tap until the rescue teams showed up and started distributing uncontaminated water. They were malnourished, sleep-deprived, and heavily scrambled by the time the rescue teams found them, and my brother never did recover. He went and became a monk somewhere far away, and my father went back to scaring people in Hawaii. As long as Tatewaki isn't too heavily stressed he is fine. I showed Ukyou where Midorigame liked to be scratched and sat for a long while just holding her.'' Kodachi curls her fingers, her elbow on the table, curls of white light extending like claws from her finger tips, blue flames flowing off of them.

``How do you do that!?'' Miyuki is instantly transfixed by the sight.

``I don't know. It isn't very useful, at least not to the person I have become. They are made of a sort of ki-field which rips molecules apart. They don't affect salts, and are only really useful for sculpting and killing people, one of which I can't do and the other of which I won't.''

``Could you teach me? The flames of the air recombining are really neat.''

``Nope. That is the other thing that makes it useless. I have this bad feeling that the only reason I can do it is because I altered my brain far more than is good for me.

``On the other hand I do have some things that I might be able to teach you if you want to learn. You know that trick Happosai has? The one where he hits you with a pipe and knocks you across the room?''

``Un.''

``Have you ever thought about how he does that? If he hit you with the pipe hard enough to do that...''

``He'd be much more likely to just tear through at the point where he hit.''

``Exactly. What I guessed was happening was that the ambient kinetic energy was being drawn off and then applied to a target. I was wrong, but it worked.'' She looks around for something sturdy to demonstrate on, then asks, ``Rie-chan, could you go get me a rock from outside?'' Rie pops up smiling, and comes back nigh instantly with a rock, which she hands to her mother.

Kodachi closes her eyes for an instant, then, holding the rock on the palm of her left hand with a clear shot out the door, brings up her right index finger, mist dropping towards the floor from around her hand. She waits like that for an instant, then lightly taps the rock with her finger-tip. There is a sudden `Krack!' as the rock leaps from her hand and blows most of the way through the wall around the garden. ``Oops, sorry. I send a crew by to fix it tomorrow, I really didn't want to do that.'' Turning back to Miyuki she asks, ``You can see how that might be useful, can't you? It doesn't take much energy from the user, for most of what is used comes from the environment one is in, and it can also be used for putting large holes in things.''

``Oshiete kureru, Kodachi-sensei!'' Ranma and Kodachi are a bit taken aback by Kodachi's sudden promotion, and everyone else just giggles.

``Sure. You have to teach me how to make those sandwiches that my daughter adores in return, though.''

``Deal!'' Miyuki's face clouds for a moment, then brightens, ``Oh, and one last slightly rude question. Which one of you two . . .'' she can't quite finish the question, her eyes on Rie.

``Oh! That question. I thought Ranma or Akane would have told you. I bore her, and geneticly she's both of ours. Basicly the doctors took an ovum from each of us and fused them together, then implanted the embryo like what happened with you.'' Kodachi answers. Rie looks bored, like she's heard this explanation far too many times before.


	2. Confrontation

Commitment part Two:  
Confrontation

A fanfic by Suika Roberts, based on the Takahashi Rumiko Manga _Ranma 1/2_.  
Of course, this is unauthorized and not-for-profit. Anyone who sells this for more than the cost of media should be flogged.

Note:  
All gendered pronouns in the dialog are just to make this easier to write, as English has a paucity of genderless ones.  
One should not assume that anyone is thinking of Ranma as being any particular gender because of the pronoun used; I just use the first one to pop up.

``Akane!'' the short haired girl turns to look at her iinazuke.

``What?''

``We can't go on like this. You can not cook.'' She blocks her iinazuke's blow, holding Akane's wrists, ``And if you go on like this you never will!'' She releases Akane's wrists to block the taller girl's kick.

``Your control over your temper sucks, which leaves you at a disadvantage.''

``I can too control my temper!'' blocked punch.

``Then why are you angry?'' dodge.

``Because you piss me off!'' strike

``So I do something, and you become angry.'' duck

``Yes!'' punch

``Like a TV with a remote?''

``Arghh!!!'' Ranma grabs both of Akane's wrists, crossing them over Akane's belly, pressing against her back before pulling up her feet. Ranma drops onto her back, pulling Akane with her.

``You control your own temper! You need to realize that!''

``Why?''

``Kodachi tells you the truth, that your cooking is bad, and makes a joke about a poisoning contest. You make it a matter of honor, so she tries to limit it, anyone's death disqualifies the person responcible. How many people did Kodachi get?'' Ranma's voice is tight, angry.

``354,'' Akane's voice shows growing comprehension, shadowed by lurking fear.

``You?'' Ranma's voice is softer.

``Two million.''

``Who won?'' Ranma's voice trembles slightly.

``Kodachi.'' Suddenly Akane is struggling again, and breaks away, slamming her elbow into Ranma's ribs, ``That's different!''

``Really?'' Suddenly one can tell Ranma is fighting her tears.

``Yes!''

``So you are going to keep hitting me whenever I `piss you off'?'' Ranma is yelling, tears glittering in her eyes.

``Of course!'' Akane yells back.

``Think about that.'' Ranma spins in place, the sun glittering on something in the air for an instant, then runs off.

``Ranma's crying?'' Akane speaks, voice soft, contemplative, brittle, ``She never lets anything get to her, so why?''

``Kasumi? I'm leaving, tell Akane that I'm sorry, and I tried to keep from blowing up like that,'' the black-haired girl wipes at her face with her hand.

``What happened, Ranma?'' Kasumi's voice is concerned.

``I just couldn't deal with it anymore, it just came out. I hope she won't hate me when I get back.''

``She won't. Have fun looking at schools.''

``I'll try.''

``Ranma-kun?'' Nabiki's voice is shocked, ``What happened?''

``I . . . blew up at Akane today, told her off about her cooking and her temper,'' Nabiki suddenly wraps Ranma in her arms, who doesn't struggle as she continues, ``Why did it have to come to this point today? If I was a little stronger I coulda coped, coulda held it in until after I got back.''

``Maybe this is for the best. She'll have time to cool off this way, and decide what to do when she's calm.''

``Maybe,'' Ranma pulls out of Nabiki's arms and gather's her pack, ``Thanks for those addresses, Nabiki.''

``You're welcome. Have fun.''

``I'll try. Tell Akane I'm sorry, I could have held my temper better.''

``I will.''

``Ja!'' ``Ja ne!'' ``Dewa Mata ne!''

``Brought you a sandwich for the train.''

``Thanks, Ko-chan.''

``Ran-chan, what happened? You don't look too good.''

``I blew up at Akane.''

``Good. She's needed something like that to happen for quite a while.''

``I'd thought that since I'd held it this long, I could hold it a little longer, just until I got back from college-hunting in Kansai.''

``Akane doesn't hold her anger whenever what she's angry at is out of sight, so this is probably for the best.'' Kodachi touches Ranma's shoulder as she finishes speaking.

``I guess so, but . . .'' Ranma breaks off, blinking rapidly. Kodachi squeezes Ranma's shoulder, and Ukyou hugs the smaller girl. Ranma composes herself and continues, ``If she asks, tell her that I love her, OK?''

``Of course.'' Ukyou promises.

``Have fun in Oosaka.''

``I will.'' The three friends sit quietly for a little bit, waiting for Ranma's train. Ranma boards, waving to the two on the platform through the window as the train pulls out.

As the train leaves the city Ranma pulls out a spiral-bound notebook and begins to write.

Ranma stares at the page for a moment, then continues in angry movements of her hand,

She closes the notebook and stuffs it into her pack before closing her eyes.

The next week passes in several quick flashes; Ranma at the Oosaka Shinkansen siding; Ranma sightseeing in Oosaka; Ranma talking to teachers; Ranma tossing and turning in her sleep, calling out `Akane,' in a disstressed voice; Ranma back on the Shinkansen; Ranma at the gate of Tendouke.

``Well, I guess it is time to see what can be seen.'' Ranma pulls open the gate and enters the yard, the gate closing behind her.


	3. Acceptance

Commitment part Three:  
Acceptance

A fanfic by Suika Roberts, based on the Takahashi Rumiko Manga _Ranma 1/2_.  
Of course, this is unauthorized and not-for-profit. Anyone who sells this for more than the cost of media should be flogged.

Note:  
All gendered pronouns in the dialog are just to make this easier to write, as English has a paucity of genderless ones.  
One should not assume that anyone is thinking of Ranma as being any particular gender because of the pronoun used; I just use the first one to pop up.

-0-

Her approach actually darkens the room, a spreading blue aura flowing ahead of the sound of her stomping feet.

`Where is that creep? Crying like that to make me feel sorry for him! How low can you get!?'

`She said to tell you she's sorry, and to remind you that she'll be back in a week.' Nabiki wisely refrains from reminding the angry person that Ranma's train does not leave for another twenty minutes.

`She fucking tells me off and then runs away?!' the angry person is screaming, tears running down her face.

`Wouldn't you?' Kasumi asks softly from the doorway, then ducks quickly back inside. The angry person flinches back like she was slapped.

`Am,' the angry person turns, the blue aura dying, and flees the room. She runs; down a street we almost recognize; over a fence; stopping at last, gasping, on a ditch-bank. `Am I really that out of control? _Kasumi_ told me off about my temper,' she sits down, or maybe collapses is a better word for it, in the short golden grass, continuing softly, `Kasumi thinks Ryouga and _he_ fight for the fun of it, and she told me off! Maybe she did provoke me this morning, but maybe she's right. I know that most of the time I can't stomach my own cooking.' tears start down her face again, `Why do I do this? I can see what my temper will do to me, and I can't stop it. Maybe I just won't; Obaba can tell me my cooking stinks and I don't fly into a rage at her.

`Kami, what am I going to do? She ran away in tears. In _Tears_, the great, unflinching Saotome Ranma, who can take punishment that would kill an ox and hide it, ran away in tears because I yelled at her again.

`Am I such an evil person that I enjoy that power? No one else can make her cry; She could get hit by a bloody truck and not complain about the pain; but I can, with just a few words, rip her into little pieces.' she flops forward, pressing her face to the ground between her knees, continues into the dirt, `Was that the last time she felt safe in my presence, before the Martial Rhythmic Gymnastics match? I know it was before she first insulted my cooking. But can the truth really be an insult? She's never lied to me, never promised me anything she didn't intend to deliver, and how do I repay her? By hitting her; by yelling at her; by deliberately trying to hurt her.

`Maybe I should just tell her to find someone who will treat her better.' she laughs, bitterly.

`And that would work. She's Shanpoo's great-aunt now; Ukyou and Kodachi are joined at the hip, and I'm an angry fucking nutcase. Why did she have to fall for me, hun? She's right, I'm uncute, unsexy, violent, and I can't stop hurting her. At first,' she sighs, wipes her face on her knees, flops back in the grass, `I think, I was just teasing. Now, whenever she's nice to me, whenever she tries to help me, I can't stand it, the rage boils up like a, a, a fucking pot of my inedible fucking cooking!'

`Don't say that, Akane-san.' Akane starts, leaps to her feet in a combat pose, her face red with crying and a pale blue aura filling the air.

`Ryouga,' she relaxes a little bit, `How long have you been here, evesdropping?'

Ryouga does the worst thing possible. He stammers, `Not long.'

`I've not been here very long.' The blue aura darkens, Akane takes three steps forward, and grabs Ryouga's sleeve, lobbing him into the water by main force.

*Splash*

When Ryouga doesn't appear on the surface again in a reasonable amount of time, Akane wades into the water to look for him. Moments later she tosses his backback and a sodden lump of clothing onto the shore.

`Might as well keep talking to myself. Why did he do that? I mean I can sorta see dumping the backpack if one is going to try and swim away, but why did he shed his clothes?' she shakes her head, `He's one of her friends, they always do weird things like this.' a look of shock suddenly covers her face.

`That fucking _Pervert_! No wonder Ranma was always picking on him! Sneaking into my bed like that. The schmuck must have extracted a promise not to tell from Ranma somehow. I'll kill him _dead_.' suddenly the aura gutters out and she sighs, drooping.

`That was worth getting angry about. This morning . . . ' she shakes her head and walks away, her shoulders slumped.

-0-

`Nabiki-neechan,' the other girl looks up in surprise at the honorific, `could you tell me something?'

`What?'

`How do you stay on top of your temper so well?'

`I don't. I just don't show it.'

`Control.' the single harsh command is whispered, barely audible.

`Are you OK, Akane-chan?'

There is a flare of blue light, `Do I look like I'm fucking _ALL RIGHT_?!' she pauses, her face set as the blue aura dies, continues in a tight voice, `I just realized, no, admitted that Ranma's right, I should be in control of my temper; I shouldn't blow up over such trifles. I just can't stop!' her voice rises on the last word.

`All I can say,' Nabiki suddenly pauses, `if you promise not to hurt me for it,'

Akane gives a bitter laugh, `I do that a lot, don't I.'

Nabiki doesn't comment on the interuption, `is that a shrink might be able to help. Mine helped quite a bit.'

Akane's jaw drops, then she sputters, `A shrink? A shrink? You?' Nabiki nods, `Thanks for telling me sooner.' Akane spins, running from the room.

`No, no breaking bricks to deal with this; it won't help, I'll just work myself up even more about this.

`Ranma always does forms after we fight. Worst thing that'll happen is I'll hurt myself.' She smiles as she finishes speaking.

Her forms are a little off, too fast here, too slow there, choppy, angry. The sun sinks down as the sounds of Akane working out drift up, then the sun drops past the wall. Akane's forms are a little smoother, a lot slower, her sweat has soaked through her gi and plastered her hair against her scalp, dripping from the ends.

`Akane, you should have some dinner.'

`Later, Kasumi.'

`At least stop and drink some water, or you will hurt yourself.'

`Maybe I want to.'

`How will Ranma feel if she comes back to find you've put yourself in the hospital?'

`Relieved.' Akane's face betrays her lack of belief in her statement, but she continues her form.

`No she wouldn't. The poor thing loves you, despite all you've done to drive her off, and she'd be quite upset.'

`Do you really want to make her cry again, you bitch?' Akane's voice is a vicious whisper, far too soft for Kasumi to catch anything but the tone. Taking a deep breath, she stops, collapses, forces herself up again.

Kasumi is there, holding her up, pressing a glass of water to her lips. Akane drinks quickly, ravenously.

`You will eat dinner now.' Akane nods acceptance of Kasumi's soft command.

-0-

`Urg,' a voice moans from behind the Panda, `Remind me not to do that again, OK?' a soft rustle accompanies Akane as she levers herself up, and slips out the door.

`What was I thinking? To work myself into such a stupor that I couldn't maintain any anger? Managed that, at least,' Akane mutters as she walks down the hall to the toilet, `Wish Nabiki had admitted that she'd seen a shrink earlier, maybe I wouldn't have done so many stupid things.' She shakes her head as she opens the door to the toilet, slips her feet into the slippers, then closes the door. Her low grumbling is quieter through the door, `No, just blaming things on others again. Scares me how easy that is, how hard it is to stop doing that.' The door opens and Akane exits, shedding the slippers.

`Kasumi?' she turns at her name, `May I watch you cook breakfast?'

Kasumi smiles, `Of course.' Akane watches quietly, her hands tightly clenched and pressed to her chin. Every few minutes she changes the way they are wrapped, but other than that does not move. As Kasumi finishes Akane gets up and walks out.

`She's so fucking _calm_ about it. How can she be so fucking calm about it?' She bangs her head lightly against the outer wall with each question.

`Ranma's right. The way I'm going I'll never learn to cook. Ranma can cook; Heck, Ranma's good at it. Ranma's said she loves me, said she trusts me. How did I reply?' she drops to her knees, pressing the top of her head to the wall, `I called her a fool and a pervert, and she walked away,' tears drip slowly down her nose, her fist rising up, ready to deliver a pulverizing blow to the wall, then relaxes, a shudder running through her body.

-0-

`Nabiki?' she looks up from her breakfast at Akane's question, `Could you find me a good shrink? Please?'

Everyone but Akane facefaults.

`Uh, sure,' Nabiki recovers suavely, `You might wanna read the bits on anger in Ranma's psych text as well.' Akane jerks, drops her chopsticks in preparation for a blow, then picks them up again.

`Thanks, Nabiki.'

-0-

`Akane?'

`Yeah?' she answers, looking up from the text.

`I talked to Keiko, and she recomended Shimura-sensei. Here's her address.' Akane takes the paper, and Nabiki continues, `I took the liberty of asking if she could see you today, and she'd like it if you could come by about noon. Is that OK?' Only a faint tightness shows around Akane's eyes as she nods.

`Thank you.' Akane stares down at the text in her hands, then closes it.

-0-

`Tendou-kun, you were referred to me about your anger.' The therapist barely manages to hide her shock as the young woman visibly composes herself, forcing calm.

`Yeah, you could say that.' She smiles thinly, her eyes flashing, `I control my temper like the American government controls their budget. Not very well, recently.' The edge of the wooden desk creaks under her fingers.

The therapist gulps, concealing her fear reaction with great skill.

-0-

`Ick. Remember what Kasumi told you, baka. Read the bloody label!' she looks at the cast iron pot in exasperation, but manages to refrain from smashing the pot, throwing it, yelling out loud, or even getting all that upset. `Wow, maybe I am getting a handle on this.' She reaches out to grab the pot, getting it halfway to the garbage before she realizes her heat-tolerance isn't as good as she'd wish.

`Baka! baka! *BAKA*!' she shrieks, dropping to her knees before setting down the pot, careful of the old metal, leaving it in the middle of the floor. Outside she starts yet another kata.

Half an hour later she reenters the kitchen, picks up the pot from the floor, glad to note that the pot had cooled enough not to damage the floor before she set it down. The pot is scraped into the hazardous waste bucket and washed.

Taking a look around she notes the slight mess, much less than what had been considered normal, and sighs. `Clean up time.'

She finishes her cleaning, calming slowly, `Kasumi, I'm done with your kitchen!'

Kasumi steps into the room, pauses and blinks, then moves to start dinner.

Akane, exhausted, slumps to watch.

-0-

`So, has it helped?'

`Yes, it has. Whenever I start getting too angry to control myself I go and work out until I can barely stand up. By that time I have control over myself again, and can return to what I was doing.'

`Hmm. How frequently do you have to do this?'

`Not often at all. I only had to drive myself to exhaustion twice yesterday.'

`Twice? How bad was it when you started?'

`Oh, the first day I only did it once, but I was at it from about lunchtime until almost nine in the evening. The next couple days I drove myself into the dirt five or six times each. Yesterday was good, though.'

`Why?'

`Because things that I know would have set me off a week ago just don't seem worth the effort anymore. If I keep this up I may be able to keep from blowing up at Ranma when she gets back from looking for colleges.'

`You mention Ranma a lot. How do you feel about her?'

`She's the most important person in my life. I owe her everything, several times over, and it just,' Akane looks down, `annoys me. At the same time I love her completely, and can't imagine trying to live without her. She was crying when she left,' Akane looks up again, her face stricken, `You've got to understand, Ranma could have an argument with a truck, the truck would lose, and she'd walk into the house and ask calmly to be taken to Doctor Tofu's because she's feeling a little less than perfect. We'd get to Doctor Tofu's, where the doctor would treat her for multiple broken bones, contusions as bad as second degree burns, and a concussion, and she wouldn't even wince, let alone cry at the pain.

`But I hit her, and she left, crying,' Akane looks ready to cry, too.

`How did that make you feel?'

`Strong, powerful,' Akane does start crying.

`And now?'

`The only thing keeping me from putting myself out of her misery is the lurking fear that that would hurt her worse.'

-0-

The gate to the Tendou house opens, and a small dark-haired young woman walks through. her eyes are cast to the ground, and a worried expression is on her face.

`Ranma!' Akane bounds up from somewhere, throwing her arms around the small woman, and kisses her firmly on the lips.

Ranma stops, stock-still, and her eyes get very big, then her lids drop as she finally begins to respond to Akane's enthusiastic kiss. Her hands slowly drift up to rest on the tall young woman's shoulders, holding her tightly. Ranma's eyes water, tears dripping slowly down her face as she returns the kiss with marked enthusiasm.

~ fin ~

---  
Log:  
1998 May 11:put aside  
1999 June 3:added log  
1999 June 16: added a bit more.  
1999 July 25:Finished, finally, I think.  
1999 August 31:Tiny bit of editing  
1999 Sept 6:Tiny bit more.  
2009 June 1: prepped for posting to ff.n


End file.
